Sunlight streamed down between the trees at the back of my house, and the river that guarded the back of my property ran slowly. It was a peaceful Saturday morning, perfect to throw ball with Ty, but I hadn’t slept a damn wink.

I’d called Peggy last night and told her what’d happened, and even she’d been shocked. It took a helluva lot to shock my sister.

“Shit,” I muttered and threw the soggy tennis ball for Ty. He barked and ran to fetch it. “Double shit.”

I’d hovered on the brink of calling him today, but the way he’d looked at me last night… It’d been like meeting him for the first time in the worst way possible. I’d never expected that from him. The anger.

And he’d been mad at me.

I touched a palm to my abdomen and stroked it lightly. Regardless of what’d happened, I had to go through with telling him about it. He might be mad as hell, but he’d hear what I had to say. If I don’t do it now, I’ll lose my nerve again.

I took the ball from Ty then led him into the house and to the living room. It took me a couple minutes to fill up his food and water bowls and cordon him off there, and then I headed upstairs to check my reflection in the mirror.

I looked the same as I always had, apart from the puffy eyes—all thanks to last night’s crying session. Ridiculous in itself. I’d been determined to stay angry rather than get upset, but I’d failed entirely. Everything that had happened over the past couple months had completely come to the forefront and overwhelmed me last night, and I’d been unable to hold back the tears.

“Screw it,” I muttered. “This is dumb.” I couldn’t hold in this information a second longer.

I grabbed my purse off the entrance hall table, blew Ty a quick kiss, then headed out the front door and down the path. I hit the sidewalk, mentally psyching myself up for what I had to do next.

Will he even believe me after what Tabitha said last night? Or rather, what she’d claimed.

The cynical part of me, the one still injured from having been cheated on in the past, demanded that I dismiss any rational thought about Mason. That he was just another cheater. I blasted that down with my more logical side.

Tabitha had been nothing but a fucking troublemaker since the day I’d entered Stoneport, so I wouldn’t put it past her to lie about being pregnant.

I approached Mason’s house, my palms sweating. His Dodge wasn’t out front, but another car was—an old Honda.

What now?

I hurried up the front path and onto the porch, then pressed the button beside the door. The bell rang inside, and footsteps approached. I held my breath.

A beat passed, and the door swung inward to reveal…

“Betsy? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, hello, dear. How are you?” Betsy asked, tilting her head to one side, her gaze sweeping from my feet to my head. “Still feeling ill?”

“I’m—wait, Betsy, what are you doing here? Where’s Mason?”

“Oh, sorry,” she laughed, and patted me on the arm. “How rude of me. Mason asked me to check the thermostat . He’s gone for the weekend and he didn’t want to waste electricity. That man has always been—”

“He’s gone?” I asked and took hold of the doorjamb. Gray speckles floated in front of my vision—it had nothing to do with him not being home. It didn’t. It couldn’t have anything to do with that. “Where—I don—”

Betsy’s smile disappeared, and she rushed forward, catching me under the arms. “Oh dear, oh. Come on, come in. Right here.” She guided me back into that damned living room and sat me down in an armchair. “You rest. Wait right here. I’ll get you a bottle of water.” She rushed from the room, and I sat back, shut my eyes, and breathed.

My ears rang, and I swallowed convulsively. What the hell was this? Just another pregnancy symptom? Or had I finally gone full-on pathetic over Mason?

“Here you go, hon.” Betsy’s voice was on my right.

I opened my eyes and accepted a bottle of water from her. It was icy cold, and I sipped from it, the liquid sliding down my throat. I gulped it down.

“Are you all right, Rebecca? You’ve been acting strangely all week. I’m worried about you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I mean, no. Yes, I’m fine. Things are complicated at the moment.”

“Complicated?”

I looked over at Betsy, taking in the kind eyes, the empathy there. She was one of the people in this town who’d given me a chance, who’d cared that I needed help. I’d trusted her and Mary implicitly the minute I’d met them.

“I’m pregnant,” I said. It felt unbelievably good to get it out. “And it’s Mason’s baby. And I know I probably shouldn’t discuss this with anyone until I’ve actually spoken to him, but I’ve tried to tell him, twice now, and I just can’t keep it in any longer. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“Oh, honey.” Betsy scooched along the sofa cushions and laid an arm over my shoulders. “Oh, I totally understand. Oh my gosh, you must be so stressed. I want you to know that if you need time off, you just tell me, and you’ve got it. Paid time off, hear? I understand. It’s OK.”

Her words brought tears to my eyes, ones I hadn’t known were waiting to erupt. “I’m so confused,” I said and sniffed, brushing the tip of my nose with the back of my hand. “I just feel like everything has turned to shit, and I can’t keep up.”

“I know,” Betsy said. “Really, I know. I don’t think you’ve heard this story before, but I was a single mother. The man I loved…died. In the Vietnam War. He was twenty. I was eighteen and pregnant. Year before they pulled out of there.”

I shifted, placing a hand on the woman’s knee. “Betsy, I’m so sorry.”

“It was a tough time. I was alone and scared, and I was sure that I wouldn’t make it through, but I did. I raised a beautiful girl, who is now an even more beautiful woman. You might know her, in fact. Mary? She told me she worked with you at the doctor’s practice.”

“Oh my gosh! Mary? She’s amazing,” I managed, the tears drying up at last. “Has she had her baby yet?”

“Not yet. She was due last week, though, so it should be soon.” Betsy flapped her hands. “Anyway, my point is that everything happens for a reason. There’s a lesson in everything, and just because things might not be working out how you wanted them to now, doesn’t mean that you can’t be happy or won’t be happy.”

Betsy paused and took a breath. She shrugged dainty shoulders.

“Just look at me as an example. When I lost my first husband, I was sure that I would never find love again, and that I’d wind up working as a waitress rather than owning a diner myself. But everything changes. I got married again, to the most wonderful man. Well—both of them were—oh, you know what I mean.” Betsy gave a deprecatory chuckle. “And I became a businesswoman. All it takes is a positive attitude, hard work, and the help of people who care. I made it through with the help of my friends, of the people in this town. I want you to know that no matter what happens, you have people here who want to help you. Don’t forget that, all right?”

“Thank you, Betsy.” I’d come over here to face the music and wound up leaning on someone else instead.

Nothing had gone to plan. Nothing.

Where the hell is Mason? Why hasn’t he called me? Why is he just gone?

Oh god, what if it had something to do with Tabitha? What if that skeptical part of my brain was onto something here?

“One second, dear.” Betsy rose from the sofa and disappeared again, only to return minutes later with her purse. She brought a pack of Kleenex out and offered it to me. “Now, clean your face, and let’s talk about this.”

“Thanks,” I repeated and took a tissue from the pack. Gosh, I had to keep it together. I wasn’t a naturally weepy person, and that made it all worse. It made me think this was serious. I dried my eyes and blew my nose then crumpled the tissue up in my hand. “I’m sorry about this, Betsy.”

“Don’t apologize, hon. You have no reason to.”

“I just feel a little lost. I wanted to tell Mason today. I tried yesterday too, but things keep going wrong. People keep getting in the way. And now, he’s gone. Do you have any idea where he went?” I asked, hating how needy I sounded.

But it wasn’t neediness for me—it was desperation driven by this situation. He deserved to know I was pregnant with his child. I stroked a hand over my abdomen again, a habit I’d gotten into over the past day, and waited for Betsy’s response.

The other woman pressed her lips together, smearing a little of her classic light pink lipstick on her upper lip.

“Betsy?”

“He didn’t give me many details, but he did mention he was going to Vermont to meet up with a potential employer. I’m not sure whether it’s an interview or not,” Betsy replied.

I lifted the bottle of water and drank some again, using it to calm myself.

He was gone.

“Do you know when he’s coming back?” I asked.

“I believe at the end of the weekend, but I’m not sure. As I said, he didn’t give me many details.” Betsy squeezed my arm again, and I exhaled.

What could I do about this? Nothing, but it said a lot that he’d run off when he knew I’d wanted to talk to him about something. Especially after what’d happened yesterday. But I kept my cool, buried my anger at the fact he’d just taken off without even sending me so much as a text, and nodded at Betsy. “Thanks for letting me know,” I said, “and for being so supportive.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Betsy replied. “If you need any help at all, just let me know.”

“I will. Thank you.” I rose from the sofa, finished off the bottle of water, then placed it on the coffee table. “Thanks, Betsy. I’ll see you at work.”

“If you need time off…”

“Actually, I’d prefer to work. It will take my mind off everything that’s happening, right now.”

“I understand,” Betsy replied. “I’ll call you with your shifts for the week, and we can hash them out. Do you need me to walk you back to your house? Will you be OK?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said and squeezed her hand. And I would be, simply because I had to be fine. That was all there was to it.

“Stay safe, darlin’.”

I thanked Betsy one last time then left the house behind. I had to keep my shit together or I wouldn’t make it through the weekend without losing it completely. I wasn’t that person.

I made it back to the house and let Ty out of the living room right away. He hopped into my lap, and I cuddled him tight, stroking his furry ears and head.

“We’ll make it through this,” I said, smiling, though there was still a lump in my throat. “We’ll make it through. All of us.”

The shitty thing was, I wasn’t sure if that “all” included Mason any longer.